For the past 25 years, Annie Earhart has been an artist who expresses herself
through radio, music serving as her palette and the airways as her canvas.
For much of that time, she worked at commercial radio stations in Connecticut
and Maine. But such stations became more regimented and formatted, and Earhart
doesn't fit into this new world.

"When I started in radio in 1974, the DJs were the programmers," Earhart
explained in the dining room of her 2-year-old Solon home. "There was a creative
interplay between the DJ and the people listening, and I loved that. But that
doesn't exist anymore in commercial radio. I've seen it all slip away. If
you're into the music, that's not the place to be anymore."

Earhart (real name Donna Kelly Gray) is making a new home for herself in
community radio. She has created the variety show "The General Store," which
airs 1 p.m. Sundays on WERU (89.9 and 102.2 FM). The program is repeated five
times weekly on the Web site Thepublicradiostation.com and at 6 p.m. Monday
on WMHB (89.7 FM) in Waterville. The show premiered on WERU March 19 and on
the Internet a month later. Her goal is to create a "Northern Exposure" for
radio. Playing herself, Earhart minds the general store in the small rural
town of Angel's Notch while spinning tunes for those who come in, be they
neighbor or deity. "It's a mythological town, like Cicely, Alaska, where magical
things happen," said Earhart, her reddish-brown hair up in pigtails.

"I love it, because I can take it anywhere." Each show has a theme, and includes
a serial involving the residents of Angel's Notch. Another segment has Annie
interviewing a visitor with a story or a mythological figure. One week, a
visitor discusses the significance of the shawl. Another week finds Thor,
the Norse god of thunder, discussing his specialty. Listeners can never be
sure who's going to walk into "The General Store" next.

Tying it all together is lots and lots of music, from the '20s through the
'90s, all drawn from the shelves of records and CDs that line the walls of
Earhart's home. Characters request songs, making the segues seamless. In addition
to being a radio personality, Earhart also is a performer. She and her scientist
husband, Andrew Wendell, are the acoustic duo Annie and Andy. She's also a
founding member of the Twatones, a campy a cappella group which gets decked
out in '50s gowns, rhinestones and sunglasses. She's also a member of the
In Spite of Life Players, who stage the annual Fourth of July extravaganza
in Athens. On this day, she's just finishing up painting her colorful "Four
Seasons Bear" for the Belfast Bearfest. And her new show draws on all these
abilities.

The cast of "The General Store" is drawn from Earhart's radio colleagues,
neighbors and friends. "There's a tremendous pool to draw from, and they're
all tremendously kind, doing this for free," she said. Taping for the show
takes place every few days around a homey-looking card table in the basement
of Earhart's home. Wendell then edits it together on their home computer.
On a wall over the dining-room table is a complete list of shows and contents.
They generally deliver shows about a week ahead of broadcast.

Earhart, a 1969 Boston University graduate in advertising design and photography,
found her calling in 1973, when she heard a DJ play an afternoon of songs
featuring cowbells. "I loved seeing the creativity of the person on the air,
and the freedom, because you could respond to the audience," she recalled.
Earhart honed her craft at Connecticut college stations WHUS and WWUH, then
landed the afternoon-drive slot at WHCN in Hartford, Conn., in 1976. In 1977,
she moved to WBLM, then just a trailer on a hilltop in Sabattus. "I left a
wonderful job at WHCN," she said. "But that was when the consultants came
in and started to format and restrict. WBLM gave the DJs freedom, and that's
what I'm good at. I wanted to be spontaneous, mix the music and make it sound
good."

Local listeners probably best remember Earhart during her time at WTOS (105.1)
FM, doing afternoon drive from 1979 to 1985 and weekends 1986 to 1992. Since
then, she worked at a variety of broadcasting jobs until the WERU gig came
along. She's also still a volunteer at WMHB FM, the Colby College station.

Also, in the late '70s, Earhart hosted a syndicated astrology program, "As
Above, So Below," which aired in Boston, Hartford, Conn., New Haven, Conn.,
and Portland. This is evidence of the other part of her life. She's been an
astrologer for 25 years, and a metaphysical teacher for 10 years, introducing
people to their spirit guides. She co-authored the metaphysical book "The
Dawn Book" a decade ago. She's now writing a second book, the life
story of Darci Stillwater, her spiritual guide, which begins with his death
in 1831.

She's also continuing to refine the offerings at "The General Store."

"It's only going to get better, as I get better at writing and my friends
get better at delivering dialogue," Earhart said. "This is my whole reason
to be, to be creative and to express myself, and to allow other people to
do it too."